The Mullets (AKA Team Thompson) dominate charity Krunch Klassic

I received a warm invitation last week from Gabe Oakes, the manager of the Akwesasne-based Kanienkehaka Krunch elite and travel lacrosse team, to make the short drive over to the reservation for the Krunch Klassic lacrosse tournament this past weekend. The tournament, which was first held in 2008, brought eight teams from throughout Northern New York and Canada to Hogansburg, including several all-Native American teams and some of the best rising players from the Iroquois community.

An 8-on-8 tournament, teams fielded three midfielders, two attackman, two defenders and (obviously) a goalie. And much like a basketball game, instead of holding a face-off after each goal, the team allowing the goal was allowed to simply start with the ball in its own restraining box, which created extremely fast-paced games – appropriate, considering the highly skilled players taking the field over the weekend.

“We did it a couple years ago, just to get all the guys together and see how many would show up and play,” Oakes said. “And then last year we couldn’t do it because of juniors (OLA Junior A) and the Krunch had to go somewhere, so we had to put it off until this year.”

On the eve of the first day of class at the University at Albany, incoming freshman attackman Miles Thompson joined older brothers Jeremy and Jerome, younger brother Lyle and cousin Ty – who will also start class this week at Albany – on a team named the Mullets (also referred to as “Team Thompson”) and ran away with the tournament championship on Sunday.

In what was a rare opportunity to see all five of the Thompsons on the field at the same time, the Mullets were pitted in the final against the Average Joes, a field rendition of the Snake Island Muskies Senior B box team that competes in the Iroquois Lacrosse Association. The Thompsons put on an offensive clinic while goalie Edmund Cathers, who will also join the Great Danes this week, was nearly unbeatable in the Mullets’ 17-3 victory.

Wearing sweet tie-dyed yellow and purple T-shirts, the Mullets dominated the competition all weekend, displaying a flair for the dramatic in the process. At one point on Saturday, Lyle fought through several defenders, sprinted down the left alley, put the stick in his left hand, and – with a defender hacking at him the whole way – unleashed a one-handed laser, between his legs, stinging the back of the net and leaving defenders looking in wonder at one another.

On another occasion, Lyle backed his defender down right on the crease. He faked several passes and underhand shots before zipping the ball over his shoulder – right by the goalie’s stick – to brother Jerome, who easily dumped it past Average Joe goaltender Jake Lazore – who, despite the onslaught he faced, made several spectacular saves Saturday and Sunday pulling duty for multiple teams.

Other young Iroquois players who stood out were Krunch midfielder Ky Tarbell (2011) and attackmen Dalston Day (2013) and Oakes’ son Seth (2012), a finalist for the NLL Insider Rookie of the Year award and an honorable mention for Player of the Year after a stellar summer with the Akwesasne Indians. Tarbell, Day and Oakes all play high school ball at Salmon River in Section X, the northernmost of all of the NYSPHSAA sections.

Before the championship game Sunday, the proceeds from the event were donated to the Akwesasne Eagle Watch, a task force of community members working to stop drug use and smuggling in the Iroquois community.

“We thought it would be a good idea to get the guys together and play our game, which we use for medicine, and to invite the Eagle Watch,” Oakes said.

Oakes said the group is sometimes referred to as the “OxyContin Task Force” in reference to a brand name of oxycodone, a narcotic painkiller being abused in communities not only on reservations, but also throughout the United State and Canada.

“They do a lot for our community, so we wanted to show our support. They’ve even gone out to Onondaga and Six Nations and marched there to raise awareness.”

In helping to lead what some are considering a Renaissance of lacrosse in the Mohawk community, Oakes is hopeful that the tournament will grow in the coming years and that it will help inspire more Native players to steer clear of a life of drugs and to instead take their talents to the college ranks.

“There’s a lot of opportunity here on Akwesasne – more so than any other reservation – to not take the route of school,” he said. “We have a smuggling problem – a drug problem – and it’s an easy opportunity for kids to seek quick cash.”

“You hate to see a kid drop off the face of the earth. I know I can’t save them all, but I just want to save as many as we can and let them know there are other options. You don’t have to be tied and destined to just this place. There is a better way of life. And that is what we want to do.”

Oakes said the Thompson family serves an example for other Iroquois players hoping to use the sport to improve their lives.

“With lacrosse, it’s an opportunity for our kids to get away,” he said. “If we can use it both as medicine and an opportunity to better our lives, then we should.”

In the same way that playing lacrosse provides nourishment for the Iroquois, serving as a mentor to young lacrosse players has been rewarding in its own way for Oakes.